A Jewish Al-Jazeera: Can It Work?

A Jewish version of Al-Jazeera is in the works:

Russian “oligarch” and Jewish philanthropist Alexander Mashkevich announced on Wednesday his intention to found a Jewish version of Al-Jazeera.

"Every day and every hour people get negative information about Israel," Mashkevich said at the Keren Hayesod - United Israel Appeal conference in Washington D.C. "Therefore, the most important thing is to represent Israel on an international level, with real information."


Mashkevich plans to found an international, professional news station as a response to unreliable reports on Israel. He says the station will not be a source of propaganda, but will tell the truth.

Of course, one could argue that saying the goal is to tell the truth--while making comparisons to Al-Jazeera--undercuts the point, but lets leave that part aside.

But once you mention Al-Jazeera, the question is whether the proposed project can really go head-to-head with the news network the Muslim world has going for it.

At least one expert says that not only would just a project have difficulty competing--more than that, it will be difficult for a pro-Israel news network to just survive:

An expert in journalism, communication, and Judaism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was doubtful about the prospects of the venture garnering enough of a viewing audience to stay afloat.

"I don't really see the monetary interest in this venture and I don't think it will end up being a success," Prof. Menahem Blondheim told Xinhua on Thursday. "Because the sector that might be interested in the TV channel would be very small if we take into account that there are only 13 million Jews in the world," he said.

Blondheim, an associate professor of American studies and communication, believes that the likely core audience for such a news channel would essentially be politically right-of-center.

"If you are going to openly support Israel like he says he does, " Blondheim said, "you are losing a big chunk of the world audience."

"But to say you want to rival Al-Jazeera is not realistic," Blondheim stressed, "because the Arab population in the world is gigantic, so it is not possible to compete with them at that level. Not to mention the enormous budget he would need."

Blondheim of course is assuming that the proposed network would be outwardly pro-Israel, in the sense that Al-Jazeera has an agenda which some have noted makes it not only not objective when it comes to Israel, but also biased when to the extent the station reflects the interests of its Qatar backers.

In fact, as quoted above, Mashkevich has said that he is looking for a news station that provides news--the truth--not propaganda. The fact he will want to appeal to the entire Jewish community, and not just the right wing, would require he do just that.

Lastly, the success of such a venture would not be defined monetarily in any case--especially since news programs in general are not known as money makers.

Bottom line, we will have to see exactly what it is that Mashkevich has in mind.

Oh, and Mashkevich has said that there is a lot of interest in his idea--and that all that is missing is a name. HonestReporting's blog, Backspin, has a suggestion for a name for Mashkevich's news venture.

Technorati Tag: Alexander Mashkevich and Al-Jazeera.